- Species: Macaw - Blue and Gold (See species list for details)
- Location: Christiansburg, Virginia, United States 24073
- Date Lost: August 28, 2014
- Banded: Yes
From:Sean and Melissa Higgins
Date:Sat, Aug 30, 2014 9:41 am
To:donna@911parrotalert.com
Hi Donna,
We found him about 6 hours after he flew away, but he was so far up in a tree that we couldn’t get him down and he was too afraid to fly down. The next 24 hours was spend attempting to get him out of 3 different trees, all at least 4 to 5 stories high. We called our local fire dept. (who apparently doesn’t rescue pets anymore), animal control (who couldn’t help and said they’ve never heard of such a thing), a wild-life specialist (who never returned my call), a tree company (who was going to charge 150 dollars/hour to use their truck, we couldn’t afford that), and the local news (who also said they didn’t know what to tell us and that this was the first time they ever heard of such a thing happening)!! So we walked down the street to the neighbors house whose tree Spurgeon had decided to perch himself in (for a total of 22 hours!!), and we tried coaxing him out of the tree with water and treats and food, but to no avail. FINALLY, after all this time, the owner of a local tree company came out with climbing gear, climbed up the tree, cut the limb he was on and slowly lowered it to where my husband was able to use an extension pole with Spurgeon’s perch on the end of it to have him step off the tree!! He was away from home for a total of 30 hours with no food or water except what he may have gotten out of the tree. I spoke with the avian vet who said he’ll be seen next week to make sure all is well and to get his wings clipped. We are SOO thankful to the family who helped get him down and that he is back home with those who love him. He’s adjusted quite well to being home since last night. 🙂
Thank you for offering such a wonderful service for those who lose such loved family companions. It seems there are so few these days who are willing to put any effort into helping others, esp when it comes to animal family members.
Have a blessed weekend,
Melissa Higgins
We bought Spurgeon about 2 weeks ago (we were told he couldn’t fly). BUT, he can…and he has flown away from home. He is a blue and gold, 16 years old, and before we bought him was caged and alone for almost his entire life. Over the past two weeks we have watched him become so social and loving, still scared at times, but didn’t spend hardly anytime at all in his cage. He loved the outside and loved being pet. His beak looks a little roughed up..he’s got a spot on the front that looks like it had been chipped on something, so that might make him more distinguishable. PLEASE help us find our Spurgeon!!! We are so afraid he will be hurt out there alone and want him to come home SOON. Last time we saw him he was up so high it was hard to tell it was him, but he has circled our neighborhood (roughly a 5-8 mile radius) about 4 times. We haven’t seen him now in over an hour. He IS banded, but because we bought him off Craigslist from a guy in NC, we never were able to get a close enough look at it to see the numbers on it. It’s on HIS left foot.